Just Watch Your Step
by Sake Bottle Swing
Summary: Rin runs into Uo after escaping the hospital, and ends up receiving care and a friend. Somehow, the two hotheads overcome their own tempers and find some common bonds. Rated T for language.
1. Chapter 1

So this is my first attempt writing a piece about girls. Hey, I need the experience plus I liked the idea of two strong, stubborn, and to a certain extent, angry personalities meeting and wondering where they go.

Disclaimer: I obviously don't own Furuba.

Enjoy!

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"You. Girl with the long hair. Watch it."

I turned to the arrogant voice calling my name. The streets were too dark, the lamps too bright, her voice too loud and everything else too quiet. Leaning against one of the lampposts was a tall blonde, near six feet, her hair obscuring part of her face. She had hard eyes, hard as marbles but seemed like the kind of person who'd be loyal down to the grit.

"What do you want?" I snapped, irritated that I'd been seen. No one was supposed to know about my escape; what if she somehow knew about me and reported me to the main house?

"I know for a fact you're in gang territory. So I'd watch out and find another road."

I snorted. "I can take care of myself, you know. I don't need your pointless warnings."

She smirked and shifted her weight to the opposite foot. "Oh really? Show me your best stuff, then. I'll tell you if you can handle the heat in this part of town. I doubt it, seeing as your staggering and clutching your stomach."

I straightened proudly, ignoring the pain gnawing at my gut and forcing a straight face. With as ferocious a yell as I could muster I charged and swung at her face. In a second she'd caught my fist and twisted my arm around my back. "Way too slow," she chuckled. "And how's yelling going to stop a bullet ripping through your heart? "

I jerked my head sharply around and glared at her. "Let go of my arm right now or my heel's going straight into your stomach."

"And you'll topple like a house of cards. Where'd you come from, anyway? You broke out of the hospital, didn't you?"

I sneered at her defiantly. "It's none of your business. Now get out of my way and let me continue."

"You're not going down that street. Believe me, I know these parts. Saw a girl shoot the nose off another girl, once. Marred her pretty little face. They like to do that, you know, shoot and punch and cut to hurt. Most times a girl's greatest asset is their beauty and they'll destroy it any way possible. Or they'll beat the shit out of you and leave you for dead. They're rough girls with nothing better to do than to make other people's lives hell. Besides," she released my arm and shoved me away, "they'd make you a prime target. If there's one thing a gang member can't stand, it's a pretty face."

"And when did you become such an expert on the subject? Get your doctrine in delinquency?" I retaliated.

"I debuted fifth grade. I was a gang member once. Don't join, one, ever, cuz you'll never get out."

"Whatever. I don't have time for this. I need to get home."

"You're not headed for home." I whirled around to face her, angry that not only that she was delaying my travel, but that she had the uncanny ability to perceive every one of my thoughts. What was she, a fucking psychic?

"It doesn't matter where I'm going, and I'm warning you to stay out of my business."

Sudden shouts sliced through the night air and tense conversation. Territorial shouts. I could feel the girls crowding around like a pack of dogs, invisible to the eye but their presence obscenely obvious. Fear clenched at my insides and I doubled over again.

"Come on," she whispered. "We're going, and you're coming with me no matter what."

"No chance in hell," I sneered.

Easy as if I were a rag doll, she hoisted me onto one of her shoulders and took off at a run. I hollered, shrieked, and kicked furiously at her but nothing broke her sprint. She carted me past various alleyways and side streets while evading the hordes of petulant Yankee thugs.

After a short while she halted in front of an apartment complex and dropped me. "Home sweet home," she laughed. "We're here. Now come in before I tie you up, lock the doors and barricade the windows."

I slowly rose to my feet. "Where'd you get so arrogant?"

"I'm not arrogant, I'm streetwise."

The interior of her apartment was small but had a strange coziness to it I would never have expected. A TV set blared from the adjacent room and laughter followed.

"My dad," the blonde muttered more to herself than me. "He's been clean for a while now, but I still have to comb through the fridge and make sure there's no booze. How old are you? Do you drink? There's no booze here, I'm afraid."

"18, and no. Why did you take me here? I didn't ask to be saved."

She shrugged absentmindedly. "I couldn't leave you there, not after the number of girls I've seen get killed on the street. My name's Arisa Uotani, but you can just call me Uo."

"Isuzu Sohma," I replied, gingerly reaching out and shaking the hand she offered me. "Everyone calls me 'Rin' though."

"Hm. Cute name. You're staying the night, so you can have my bed. I'll sleep on the trundle." She opened the door to her room, reached underneath her bed and yanked a trundle bed from underneath. "You'll need clothes, too. I've got a nightgown, you don't really look like the pajama type." She tossed a white cotton nightgown out of her closet which I caught. The material was soft and cool to the touch. I remember having one similar to this as a little girl.

"I'm getting dressed for bed. Would you leave?" I asked her.

"I won't leave, but I will turn around and shut my eyes." She followed through with these actions and clamped her hands over her eyes. I unzipped my dress and half-slid it down my body when an acute nausea struck me. I fell to my knees and grasped the end of the trundle, desperate to hold back the bile creeping up my throat.

Uo heard the thud and whipped around. "Oh no, you're gonna puke! Hold on I'll get a bucket!" I held the disgusting fluid in my throat until, seconds later, a plastic blue bucket was in front of my face and I donated the contents of my stomach into the container.

"Ugh…" I spluttered, feeling both disgusting and ashamed. Here I was, in the house of a stranger and not ten minutes within getting into her house I was kneeling on her floor and vomiting. Worse still, I was half-naked. Not knowing what else to do, I glared at her and pulled my dress up to cover my breasts then sank back down into a child's position on the floor.

She ignored my glare as she had ignored everything else I'd shouted or snapped at her. "I'll help you get dressed. I promise I won't look." I seethed inside yet was too weak to fight any attempts at helping me in my current state. Why would she look, anyway? Surrendering to her requests, I went limp and let her pull my dress off of me and slip the nightgown on. Though I'll never admit to her I was grateful for her assistance, seeing as I couldn't even dress myself without throwing up.

Another wave of sickness came over me and I positioned myself over the bucket again. Everything was gone from my stomach and only a little bile remained. She handed me a dishrag to wipe my mouth with as she rubbed circles on my back. Her comforting gesture didn't go unappreciated. "I hate eating," I muttered. "Half the time it doesn't stay down. And I'd never, ever eat in front of you, so don't even try to get me to eat." What was I saying? I was too exhausted to even be remotely concerned with the words coming out of my mouth.

"It's okay," Uo muttered, even though she couldn't be sure of that. "You'll be fine. Do you want some medicine? What's wrong?"

"None of your business!" I growled, desperate for her to go away. I was waiting for her to hate me, reject me, and throw me out. I wasn't used to kindness.

"I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong."

I looked at her incredulously. "You don't give up, do you? Stomach ulcers. And I've got my own pills. Get me water."

"Yes ma'am," she replied sarcastically as she fetched a glass. I gulped down the pills and by placebo effect felt instantly better. I laid down gently on the trundle and pulled the comforter over me. It wasn't until I yawned that I realized how fatigued I was. Though I hated sleeping in front of people and sleeping in strange houses, I had no choice. "I going to sleep," I stated obviously.

"Not until you move onto my bed. It's much more comfortable."

"I'd rather sleep on the trundle. I hate being a guest, and I especially don't want to feel like I belong here."

"Stubborn, aren't we? Whatever." She hopped into the bed above the trundle. "Good night."

"Hmph," I replied, frowning in the dark.

"You're so damn cold," she muttered as my eyes adjusted to the darkness. "Your heart will freeze if you don't let people in every once in a while." Soon her words faded into light snores that carried me off to one of the most pleasant sleeps in my life.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Please tell me what you thought. They're both still strong personalities, but Uo's the softer one. I guess hanging around Tohru's lightened her up and given her more of a "friend" vibe. But if Rin had run into Tohru her reaction would have been very different: much more panicked, I guess. I'm unsure at this point whether or not to keep it friendship or make it shoujo-ai. It's definitely not becoming a yuri fic, I know that. Please let me know in a review!


	2. Chapter 2

Here's the second installment, this time from Uo's point of view. I don't know if I'll always alternate between Rin and Uo's POvs—sometimes I might even switch to the third person omniscient that looks at both of them together. Still not sure about that yet, but I'll specify who's speaking in each chapter. And I'm terribly sorry for the delay in updates; I was recently a refugee at handbell camp and had no opportunity to write.

Without further adieu…

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next morning I awoke before my strange new houseguest did and had the opportunity to ponder her situation. _Why had she wandered out into the streets? Why did she have stomach ulcers in the first place? What should I do?_ Taking her in wasn't exactly the first thought that came across my mind; I'd planned on shrugging, saying "Suit yourself, see you in the next life," and running before my ass got kicked. Yet there was something about her, something about her fierce determination and stubbornness that appealed to me. I guess a little bit of Tohru's rubbed off on me—three or so years ago I wouldn't have thought twice about abandoning her.

I watched the sunlight move painfully slowly from the edge of my sheets down to the trundle, all the while thinking. Honestly, I had no idea what to do with her now that she was momentarily safe. It all depended on her health, her mood, everything rested on her now. I knew I had done all I could but I still got that feeling that there was something more she needed.

After almost an hour of watching her she stirred and emerged from sleep. I dove back under the covers and feigned sleep until I was aware of her stretching. Mimicking just waking up, I yawned loudly and blinked at her. "How are you feeling?" I asked.

"Hmph," was my only reply, but she seemed to be in relatively good shape. Her stomach growled and I reached to hand her the bucket, but she pushed it away, saying, "I'm not going to throw up again, I'm just hungry." She instantly regretted saying this, for she knew the next words out of my mouth.

"Oh, okay I'll go get breakfast."

"Don't you dare," she hissed. "You can get your own food, but I'm not eating. Didn't I tell you last night that I won't ever eat in front of you, or are you too stupid to remember?"

I glared at her, slightly pissed at her contempt. "You can eat on the fucking roof for all I care, but you're going to eat. You're not going to puke in my room again and you're going to get better."

"If I don't eat I can't throw up, and besides, you probably can't tell the difference between a stethoscope and a pile of shit."

"Of course I do!" I exclaimed proudly. "A stethoscope is the thing that wraps around your arm."

"That a blood pressure cuff," she replied nonchalantly, pulling herself off the mattress and standing up. "Where are my clothes? I'm leaving."

"Not telling, and no way are you leaving. You're not well enough to leave."

She snorted. "You can't tell me to do anything."

"Oh yeah? Take one more step towards that door and I'll call the hospital and tell them you escaped."

I was bluffing of course, I had no idea which hospital she came from or who her doctor was, but my words had the desired effect. She stopped dead in her tracks and turned to stare coldly at me. "Fine, I'll stay, but I'm not eating in front of you."

I put my hands on my hips. "I see no other way. I have to make sure you eat something, otherwise you'll never get better. Now, what kind of food do you like?"

"Nothing that you have," she responded icily.

I raised my eyebrow at her in an ironic sort of way. "Fine. Gelatin." She stated flatly.

"Great!" I clapped my hands together. "I happen to have some gelatin in the fridge. Hope you like lemon or strawberry, cuz that's all we've got."

"Lemon." And she followed me reluctantly down the hall.

I pulled two Tupperware containers of gelatin—lemon for her, strawberry for me—and set them down on the table with two spoons and napkins. "Want anything to drink?" I asked as I rummaged in the fridge for some kind of juice. The only kind we had expired six months ago. Shit, I really needed to clean out the refrigerator.

I got a glass of water for her and some milk for me and sat down in the folding metal chairs and began eating. My stomach had more room in it than for just gelatin, but I figured she might eat if I had the same thing.

"So, you're one of the Sohmas? Are you related to Yuki or Orange-Top?"

A flutter of a smile might have cracked her face, but it was difficult to tell. "You mean Kyo? Yeah, I'm related. They're my cousins, but I don't see them very often. I don't like them."

"Why doesn't that surprise me…" I muttered into my spoon. I glanced up to see her playing around the gelatin with her spoon but not putting any into her mouth. She hadn't even sipped her water.

"Really, staring at it's not going to make it go down, Rin. Just eat it, God, no one's going to judge you for it."

"I told you, I'm not eating in front of you. I'll eat after you're done."

I've hung around my dad enough to know that "I promise I won't drink while you're gone," means "I'll wait until you leave to get wasted." So, "I'll eat after you're done," meant "I'll throw it in the garbage when you're done." I shook my head. "No, you're eating right now. I'm watching it go in your mouth and down your throat, along with some of that nice, tasty water. Right now, missy."

She didn't take too kindly to being called "missy", for she stood up abruptly, gave me the coldest glare yet, and growled, "There's no way in hell I'm staying here any longer with you insolent little bitch." She tried to escape into the living room, but I blocked the doorway and locked my arms into the frame.

"Get out of my way, idiot," she commanded.

"Eat your fucking gelatin," I replied stonily.

"How about no? Does 'no' work for you?"

"Actually, it doesn't. Go sit your ass in that seat and eat your goddamned gelatin right now before I shove it down your throat."

She pretended to contemplate this before charging at me to break past. I caught her easily and threw her over my shoulder in a bizarre repeat of the incidents last night. I plunked her down in the chair and reached for a long piece of rope I'd used recently to tie down a tarp. I wrapped the rope around her several times until she was firmly secured to the chair.

"What the hell are you doing? You're insane. Untie me right now or I'm calling the police."

"Oh shut up. No, wait open up. I warned you, now I'm going to make this completely embarrassing and humiliating. Don't make me get the video camera."

She clamped her mouth shut and refused to open even when I hit her over the head, but I managed to pry it open and shove the spoon in. Once the food was in her mouth, however, she accepted it and swallowed instantly. In this manner I somehow force-fed her, though after each time she became a bit more willing to eat. She even asked for a second cup when I'd finished the first.

"This actually tastes decent," she mumbled as she started in on her second serving.

"I'm glad," I replied somewhat sarcastically. I was glad that she stopped resisting. I untied her and let her eat the second cup by herself, even going so far as to leave the room.

"You don't have to leave, you know."

I turned around and stared at her in mock surprise. "What's this? The impenetrable Rin Sohma admits defeat? Incredible! A shocking moment in history!"

"Shut up. You force-fed me, so I don't see how this can be any worse. And you don't have to be so sarcastic, it's not becoming of you."

I chuckled haughtily. "And since when do you care what becomes me? Hell, when have you cared at all?"

"I'm not saying that I care, I don't." There was that little light though, at the back of her eyes, that betrayed her real feelings. She did care, somewhere in that harsh exterior. Maybe I'd made a tiny crack in that wall around her personality. Maybe I could break that whole wall down.

She polished off the second cup and I reached for a third when she interrupted, "I'm not a glutton, you know, I was just hungry. I'm fine now. You can shut the door." I closed the white metal door and turned to look at her again. Her usual scowl had been replaced by a more neutral expression, perhaps even with a bit of satisfaction mixed in. "Well, your clothes are still in my closet, but I can wash them for you. Is there anyway we can go to your house and get you some more clothing? What do you want to do?"

She meditated on this a moment. "I don't really want to stay here, but it's the best option I have. I don't want to go back to the hospital, and I can't go back…home." She had great difficulty saying the word "home". She shook her head, sending her hair fanning out across her shoulders. "I guess I could call someone and have them bring a suitcase for me. Or I have some money, I could buy some new ones until I get out of here."

"You sound like it's a hellhole here. It had better not me, I've busted my ass to make this place livable."

"It's not, it's just unfamiliar. I think I can adjust."

She stepped lightly back down the hall and into my room where she changed into her clothes from the day before. When she emerged I noticed how strikingly beautiful she was. I don't take notice of girls, but she looked very different from most girls I knew. She wasn't cute at all, but dangerously pretty. She brushed out her long hair and tossed in over her shoulders and smoothed a wrinkle in her dress. Next to her I felt so plain and masculine.

"What are you staring at?" she snapped.

"Your hair," I replied casually. "It's just so pretty and smooth-looking. Mine's a pain in the ass to take care of and it takes forever for it to look good."

"It's morning and unbrushed. Everyone's hair looks bad when it's not brushed." If I wasn't mistaken, there may have been a compliment hidden in there somewhere.

I pulled on a pair of jeans, a T-shirt, and my jacket, brushed my teeth, and took a little extra time to make my hair look nice. For some reason, it looked a bit smoother.

"Okay, so do you want to go shopping for some new clothes?" I asked when I met her back in the kitchen. She half shrugged and said, "Sure, why not. It's better than calling for a suitcase. I need to get some money, though."

"No problem." I held the door open for her that led outside. "I don't need your charity," she said gruffly.

"No, but it's nice every once in a while. Better than getting shot?"

"Hmph. Better than getting shot."

I grinned and waited for that flicker of a smile to come back. There it was, like a firefly in pitch darkness, nearly invisible but there all the same. I had a feeling today might be a good day for the both of us.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Wow, so I did that at 11:30….took me longer than expected. Let me know what you think please! And yes, this will be shoujo-ai, but that will take a while. I have to be careful not to rush this. In the next chapter look forward to Rin warming up a more to Uo, but this has to move kinda slowly for the two hotheads. Read and review, please!


End file.
